A certain man deprived his not entirely blameless children of their inheritance, and bequeathed all his property to Jonathan ben Uziel. What did Jonathan do? He sold a third of his property, donated a third to charitable causes, and returned a third to his heirs.
Shammai learned about this and rebelled with indignation against Jonathan (for returning part of the property to the heirs).
“Shammai,” Jonathan said to him in response, “if you consider yourself to have the right to take away what I sold and what I dedicated to God, then perhaps take away what I returned to the poor heirs.” And if you cannot do the first, then you have no right to do the last.
And Shammai could only say:
- Ben Uziel answered me boldly, answered boldly, but defeated me.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru